Rampage 2: Universal Tour

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New characters, more cities to destroy and the same old uninspired concept. Full review.

By Matt Casamassina

In its day, almost 15 years ago, Rampage was one of the best arcade experiences to be had. The game featured big monsters and vulnerable cities, which added up for some mindless, addictive fun. Then came last year's 64-bit update to the classic series in the form of Rampage: World Tour, a three-player brawl-fest of sorts that endeared itself to the younger audience.

After phenomenal sales, Midway decided that a sequel was a brilliant idea, which leads us to Rampage: Universal Tour. This time around we've got more characters and cities than ever before, updated graphics, new attacks and combos, bonus rounds and a new storyline. However, at its core, Rampage: Universal Tour is still a hugely outdated idea running on an aging engine and to be brutally honest, the experience runs dry for most gamers in a matter of minutes.

The Facts

More than 125 different levels.

Completely re-rendered characters.

Four new characters.

Three-player simultaneous play.

New storyline.

Power Meter (for special moves).

Changing weather effects and daylight times.

New bonus rounds.

New attacks as well as combos.

Controller Pak and Rumble Pak support.

Gameplay The gameplay mechanic behind the Rampage franchise has remained unchanged over the years: Players control a mutated, giant monster through a series of city locations, the idea being to destroy everything and eat everyone. This is accomplished in a King Kong-like fashion, whereupon players climb and demolish buildings, stomp out bridges, devour moving cars and crush anything within reaching distance. The concept doesn't exactly require a great deal of skill.

Universal Tour expands upon the Rampage series with a handful of minor additions. First, the game offers more of just about everything including four new characters in the form of a giant rhino, a somewhat disturbing looking lobster, an overgrown rat and an alien. These four monstrosities are playable in addition to the regular trio, which includes Lizzy the Lizard, Ralph the Wolf and George the Ape. Each of the characters has been re-rendered to fit Universal Tour's updated graphics look.

In addition an expanded cast of characters, the game features more cities than World Tour for a new total of 125. A good selection of cities are actually modeled after their real-life likeness and represented more accurately within the game. That means real New York locations and France backdrops that resemble the real deal. And you know what that means: Kiss your butt good-bye, Paris.

The combo system of old has been slightly enhanced in this year's version, but let's face the facts, there was never much of a combo system to begin with. Special moves are executed using a power meter located at the top of the screen; Once it's filled, much ass-kicking can be had.

Break away all the subtle additions, though, and we're left with the same experience all over again. Had Universal Tour been a PC game, it would have been a downloadable upgrade over the original -- nothing more. What still remains intact, and what needs a power boost more than any aspect of this game, are its tiresome, boring mechanics. Really, how long can we go on breaking similar looking buildings and eating similar looking people before it gets old?

Multiplayer Universal Tour features a three-player every-mutant-for-itself mode that basically sees players competing against one-another to break the most buildings and wreak the most havoc. This mode, admittedly, is somewhat of a guilty pleasure. Sneaking up on Peer as he chips away at a structure and then punching the German repeatedly in the back of his head is quite fun, especially if it causes him to fall to the ground and hurt himself even more. Unfortunately, not even the multiplayer mode can save this game from its own boring mechanics in the end and we feel that everyone, save for younger players, will quickly grow tired of the experience.

Graphics Imagine beautiful 3D environments; Think huge, incredibly detailed worlds and unsurpassed animation routines. Now imagine Rampage: World Tour with slightly updated 2D, sprite-based graphics, improved animation and new renders. Universal Tour, unfortunately, succumbs to the latter of these two possibilities. Just as last year's game looked outdated, so does Universal Tour. On the bright side, some of the prerendered buildings are cool, the colors are pretty, there are some nice new weather effects, as well as day and night conditions. The best part of the PSX version, the excellent animated intro, is sadly missing from the N64 incarnation of the game.

Sound Your standard selection of cracks, smacks, thumps, growls and screams are present in this year's incarnation of the Rampage franchise. Developer Avalanche Software (Rampage: World Tour) has done its share in gearing the game towards the younger age group, with silly sounds that demonstrate a light-hearted listening experience to destroying cities.

The Verdict

Rampage: Universal Tour is a solid upgrade over last year's game. It features updated graphics, more cities and characters to choose from and a still-enjoyable three-player multiplayer mode. Unfortunately, none of this is enough to distract us from the fact that the gameplay mechanic holding it all together is severely outdated. While younger gamers are bound to get a kick out of Universal Tour's silly cast of characters and simple-to-learn control system and objectives, older gamers are likely to desire something more than breaking building after building for 125 levels.